4 labourers buried in Rampur landslide

4 labourers buried in Rampur landslide

Four Nepali labourers working in Kashapat road in Rampur area of Shimla district, about 160 km from here, were killed in a massive landslide. The deceased were about to leave after removing the debris from the narrow road, opened on December 31, when a huge rock caved in and they were buried alive under the debris.

Officials along with local people reached the spot immediately after the incident but the rescue operations had to be abandoned due to darkness and looming threat of more landslides due to loose strata on the hill side.

The rescue operations were started again by the administration with the help of local people. However, it took considerable time to extricate the bodies from the debris as the road was narrow with a deep gorge on the other side and only one JCB that could be deployed, said DSP Rampur Som Dutt.

The rescue teams were keeping a constant watch on the hill side to alert the rescuers in case of any geological movement on the hill side that could trigger fresh landslide.

After more than four hours of hard labour, the bodies of all four labourers were recovered after removing huge mound of debris. and handed over to family members after postmortem.

The deceased were identified as Ajay (38), driver of the drilling machine, Lokendra (40), Ram Bahadur (40) and Harendra (22), all of Nepali origin. The district administration has given an immediate relief of Rs 10,000 to the next of kin of the deceased.

The landslide has raise a question mark over the safety of commuters travelling on the road. The casualties could have been more if it was day time as a large number of people cross the risky patch of the road, said a local resident.

Question mark over safety

The labourers were about to leave after clearing debris from a road when a huge rock caved in buryingthem underneath.

Officials along with local people reached the spot immediately after the incident but the rescue operations had to be abandoned due to darkness and looming threat of more landslides due to loose strata on the hill side.

The landslide has raise a question mark over the safety of commuters travelling on the road.